US 8 seaters, Yukon, Odyssey, Sienna but what vans Vito etc?

[Hugh Jarse]

Got some more juice out of one of our Multimacs - This one is the 3 seater 1000 - converting the 7 seat CGV RT into an 8 seater, so vehcile seating in the UK crisis averted with the arrival of Clementine Margaret on Wednesday. The other 1320 4 seater changed the Avantime into a six seater. We sold our third one.

Avantime:






Loving the squareness of these town cars, but mad to think lap belts in the back.



Fantastically lovely 2003 Chevy van, would like to buy American, but 7 seater and I assume some monster v8 (7.2l?) in it. Not affordable for a family with one salary.




Nice shot of the extra luggage room on the longer merc minibus:

Edited by Hugh Jarse on Sunday 28th April 07:25

Edited by Hugh Jarse on Tuesday 30th April 16:49

[Hugh Jarse]

Love these vans, but 5.7L V8 etc
The black merc vans will need ajollier wrap of paint job, anything from cheesy mountain sunset to zebra is possible.






or buy two of these?

[Hugh Jarse]

Decision almost made, the Metris also allows a fourth row to be plugged in and add three more passnger spaces which could be handy on grandparet visits etc. Lusting after Americana but life situation means too sensible these days. A Sienna, Carnival, Odyssey or Mopar minivan would be a good second car if the classic fleet isnt ready for backup duties. WHich means the first purchase could still be a one of the four named above not necessarily the Metris. Starting to feel a bit less panicky about the logic and reasoning. Next thing to work out is how not to get scammed and buy remotely, might have to use an car buyer inspector of such things exist stateside.

[Hugh Jarse]

More thoughts on pricing..........it seems to be wierd, plenty of rather expensive miled out 20 years old stuff under $10k, whereas @$15k you can get a 7 year old Metris on medium mileage and quite acceptable, hence we will be going for the $12k>$19k range to avoid the dross.

[Hugh Jarse]

Some bargain basement Hondas, but seen one from 2008 going rusty!



Some strange old stuff quite dear at $8>10k, looks well made and v6 4.3L isnt completely bonkers, still im paying another $8k to get me 16 years newer, fewer miles and different tech generation



Then this dealer supplier five year old on reasonable miles (120k) Metris which looks a winner, Im sure the dealer could fit an eighth seat if we find one.


Plus a 625K mile toyota lol, built to last.


Lincoln Navigator 7 seater think they can be made an 8

[Hugh Jarse]

Right, so its a merc metris 2.0L T &speed auto from 2015>19 at @100k>150K miles for between $13>19k
You can get back to your corvettes etc, apologies
Im not driving a gloomy black van though so some (cheesey?) decals are required, or airbrushing or something.

[Hugh Jarse]

This is my worry, with the older and smaller stuff, its all seat belts hanging from ceiling, or in the transit case, the seats anchorages look very utilitarian CDT metalwork projecty. But keeping an open mind, plenty of alternatives at the lower end of the scale.
Centre sea looks dodgy

Nice Odyssey

[Hugh Jarse]

highish miles, but a hond so prob ok, seems cheap, in the top three so far

[Hugh Jarse]

There seems to be a lot more reasonable priced offerinsg popping up now.

Mentally Im on the Dealer Metris, have checked the second hand car lot, it exists!

[Hugh Jarse]

Thanks Matt, a Surburban popped up this morning,


now everything Im finding seems rather good value all of a sudden. As per you recommendation. On the face of it this should work, but reaching in to the third row to buckle a child around the C pillar on a hinging door gets old very quickly, and if you have them on the middle row, the seats no longer tip. We have an electric sliding fdoor Chrysler ATM and its hard to go back once that is sampled.

[Hugh Jarse]

More stuff I would classify as good value

Sienna


Lincoln Navigator

[Hugh Jarse]

Matt Harper said:

I think that if I needed 8 seats, I'd forego a van and play it safe with a LWB Suburban. Newer models are quite refined and they are bulletproof reliable. Vortec motor is not overly thirsty and cranks a lot of torque. They are great tow vehicles as well.

https://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/suburban/2014/review/

Good review on Edmunds

[Hugh Jarse]

8 seater Navigator for sensible dosh and pretty new, but not alot of space behind the third row, which in our case will always be in use.

[Hugh Jarse]

Cheers Matt, scratch that one.

Booking containers at the moment, realised 45ft is now a dinosaur, so getting creative to fit the four into a 40ft.
Have bought a chinese hand winch new £50 and an beefy old one from a farm £30, so plan to use both as belt and braces. issue being you have to laod the container in 3 hours or pay fines of £75 per hour.

£7k to take them, take one and its about £5k so its either take them all or send them all to Anglia Auctions nearby. 3 are already LHD. I have lost the keys to the Mondial /facepalm

[Hugh Jarse]

yes, i have done this from Vasteras in sweden to hull in england on my previous move seven years ago, but theu were nose to tail, drive in on the ground almost, no angles. Anyway, i have the ramp for the merc already in my garage as a tilter lift, so really only the platforms and ramps outside to build. Lets see. (FYI was only the Frog, ELise * Mondy as we drove the Merc back.

Edited by Hugh Jarse on Wednesday 1st May 13:38

[Hugh Jarse]

Doug de Muro is not a fan lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa8kHgmZIiQ
His second worst score ever
To counteract his points, valley seating kills most of his points about access, the van seats are full size, with Isofix everywhere.
The rear space is quite surprisingly small though, not sure if he is using the rearmost position, it looks my claims of a fourth row possibility is bks.
Harumph.
As previous posters here have said Sienna/Odd/Sedona might be better.

[Hugh Jarse]

Returning after five minutes to say to this friendly looking bloke, "its not going in reverse"
"OK well let me take it to my mechanic, IVAN KALASHNIKOV"
/bit racist

Edited by Hugh Jarse on Saturday 4th May 13:32

[Hugh Jarse]

Its amazing looking at pictures of these cars, I would have never believed they are so similar in length.

Kia sedona 2014 onwards length Length 5,115 mm (201.4 in)
Mercedes-Benz Metris Passenger W447 Length. 5,141 mm (202.4)
Toyota Sienna Length 5,170–5,180 mm (203.7–204.1 in)
Honda Odyssey Exterior Length: 5,212mm (205.2 in)

One thing from Doug's review I hadnt realised is the windows at the back or in the doors dont open at all, even if we chucked in a sunroof, that is still quite shockingly ste, especially clearing hot air on returning to a car in summer.
There is also the 2019 Toyota Proace D4D Verso 9 Seater, looks decent but again windows dont open. Seems miserable, not sure if sold stateside.

Lots of Hondas well in the $15k budget.

[Hugh Jarse]

some nice low mileage ones, 8 seats, sensible dosh at $11k & 74000miles. Does "rebuilt title" mean damage repaired?

[Hugh Jarse]

Cheers Moose. So my Mrs aint compromising on valley seating and I agree, this video on the Kia Carnival shows the only vehicle that does dropping windows and valley seats, problem being that is 2021 model onwards and too pricey. Lets see how my interviews go this week. There are rear window kits supposedly for the Metris, but I really dont want to prat about. Ithink the image shows the oracticality of the valley, compared to trying to filter people in an out of back row via a tilting seat. Must be better in a crash as well as rear facing safer and evacuation simpler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdG3BAudW2g


Too pricey for us.

Edited by Hugh Jarse on Sunday 5th May 08:50